Hedgehog Dilemma

[Penny]

That’s just made my day Hedgie Lover…I’m still laughing! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Whilst I was watering the plants the other day a hoverfly flew into a spider’s web; within seconds the poor thing was being spun round and round so fast it was a complete blur, when the spider had finished its victim was completely cocooned in silk and then put to one side for a snack later…I will never see my neighbours in the same light again! Thankfully ours are mostly ok, although one has an obsession with ants and ant powder which is a bit of a worry. Genghis, next door’s feline assassin is our biggest problem at the moment, I’m already working on grand plans to protect one of the bird boxes ready for next spring, he’s still trying to wrench it off the fence despite its occupants having left several weeks ago! I was worried about the new hoglets, but so far, on camera at least, he has left them well alone.

I have tried just about every cat and hedgehog biscuit over the years and their clear favourites are Purina One kitten biscuits with a sprinkling of Ark Hedgehog Muesli over the top, they won’t touch the wet stuff either. I always think their poo is a good indicator of how much natural food they are eating, if it is black and shiny then they are eating lots of their natural food, including their favourite black beetles, if it’s a bit more brown in colour then just maybe they are relying on our hospitality a bit too much, but this only usually happens when they are fattening up ready for hibernation. The hoglets seem to be doing well on it anyway and have already almost doubled in size, if they continue to grow at the current rate they may need to look for bigger prey…cats maybe… 🙂

[Annker]

Hi Hedgie Lover & Hettihog, I think there is some confusion here, as far as I know Spike do Semi moist and biscuits. I buy semi moist which is like mince meat to look at. My hogs love it. As said before, they are fussy eaters and if you keep changing the food they also tray it with suspicion. I get mine off the internet, if you shop around its OK. I buy 2, 1.3kl bags. They liked Purina (may not be right spelling) cat biscuits at one time, but don’t eat it now. Recently the semi moist Spike changed a bit in appearance and the hogs went on hunger strike for 3 days, which seems to be another habit they have, the 3 day rule! Cat and dog meat, they like chicken, turkey and duck but won’t eat mixed poultry! I bought 2 pkt of dog meat, (can’t remember what flavours) ate one not the other. I gave up on the wet cat and dog meat as if not eaten soon it doesn’t half niff, which will bring the cats and other unmentionables! So, please try putting one thing out for 3 or 4 days to test this theory. I’m sure people think if they don’t find what they like they will go elsewhere, so keep changing the food, but I’m sure they are wanting a supply of food that remains the same so isn’t suspicious. You can experiment with different things later, once you’ve gained their trust, by providing an extra dish of something else. As for neighbours, when mine had finished going on about the “so called rats feast” I did mention the hedgehogs we had and the comment as she turned to leave the gate was “huh”. So guess she doesn’t want them in her perfect garden in case they dig up her plants! The only problem I’m having with my feeding station at this time is megga giant slugs which the hogs don’t eat. I throw them out. Maybe they know they are bad, like the birds. I once dug worms up for the birds and was told by rspca that mothers knew which worms to pick as others had a virus or something. The things we don’t know!
Best wishes.

[Annker]

PS… Hi Penny, congratulations on having baby hogs, how lucky you are. Neighbours….. Nightmare….. My next door neighbour has just got yet another cat… Plus two kittens, (total 6) which will be another fight as they will manage to get in the feeding station for a while till they grow. They don’t seem to bother with the hogs, so don’t bother if they run round all night, but a couple are after the birds in the day, which I hate. Anyway, look after your babies and good luck.

[Hedgie Lover]

I think the 3 day rule is probably spot on Annker, as when the Webbox hedgehog food ran out, I put down spikes, and it wasn’t touched for about 3 days, so I mixed it in with cat biscuits, then they started eating it – it must have been about 3 days – aren’t they funny!

Tonight I’m going to experiment with the semi-moist spikes, and just put that in the bowl (no dried & no cat biscuits) and see if it gets eaten (but will still put a bit of wet dog meat out) – sounds like all the rest of the hedgies like it, given the comments on this thread.

Hi Penny, I hate spiders, I really do – especially after last night – and my flat is infested with them – I guess they are good for eaten up all the other bugs in the house – but they tend to leave the bits of bugs and moths they don’t like scattered in my bath and on my kitchen tops (as they like to hang out on the ceilings). And due to me keep opening my door during the night to hedgehog watch – all the moths come in too, especially the giant moths which scare me to death.

I need a cute looking pet that would hoover up all the bugs for me.

[Hedgie Lover]

so far no semi-moist spikes has been eaten but the dog food has all gone so at least they’ve visited. But I’ll persist with the moist stuff, and wait until mid next week, by then they should have got used to the smell of it.

Funny because when I first started putting the food out, it was gone on the first night – why didn’t they wait for 3 days to get used to the smell of it, unless they were really hungry for food. Also on the first night I put water down, the bowl was completely dry in the morning – and the following weeks I’d frequently see them taking a sip. But for the last couple of weeks, I’ve only seen one hedgehog take a sip – could that be because it’s been raining heavily? However, the water level seemed to be down last night – so perhaps they are drinking it but I’m just not witnessing it – they tend to prefer to step in the bowl and get it really dirty rather than drink it.

[simbo65]

Hi –
We have found here over the last 2 years that they seem to appear more often when the conditions aren’t right for natural food. The same hog might come back 3 times during the night when the ground is hard.
We have tried to make natural food for them too.
A mini log pile is rotting down nicely and seems to be providing something they like. We have left all the fallen leaves, twigs etc to produce natural food and the trail footage is full of creepy crawlies.
We use ARK food- I buy in 10KG packet and share with my friend 6 doors down.
So we reduce the amounts slightly when there are good natural HH food conditions and increase when there aren’t.
We want to help but not make them lazy or dependant on the food.
Good luck with all the different foods.

[Nic]

Hi Hedgie Lover

You might find the water bowl was empty because they tipped it over. They are very good at that! I’ve even seen one trying to tip over an 11 inch diameter plant saucer with water in it – presumably to see if there were any tasty morsels underneath. It didn’t manage to tip it over but did move it a bit. Must have been stronger than it looked – all that practice pushing other hogs around – it was a male. And don’t be persuaded that your cameras capture everything that happens – they don’t. Hogs actually drink quite slowly – tiny mouths – so it doesn’t always appear that the water has gone down by much.

But, yes, why go round the water when you can go through it!

[Annker]

Hi all, when you first put food out they must have been hungry, either before or after hibernation. Last year was very hot and dry. When it rains they find more natural food but even this theory has gone to pot recently. The torrential rain seems to have driven them into the feeding station. Simbo65 is right, they visit approx 3 times a night. So eat a snack, look round for live food and come back for another snack during the early hours. I’ve started a wood and leaf pile a few months ago now, it may or may not have escaped my neighbours attention! Although I caught her looking through a gap to view the rest of my back garden! I’m just about to report milk shakes being dropped all over the place by children attending an event hall. They are huge plastic tubs with straws and lids on and different flavours. I can’t look at milk, can’t wash a milk bottle without heaving, so I picked one up and when I saw it was a chocolate milk shake curdled I was heaving in the street and had to drop it. Sorry, I’m a wimp, don’t want the hogs to get them but I can’t be sick in the street, so will report it. Best wishes.

[Author]

Posts